Business round-up: Busy week in Scottish business as financial year draws to a close

16:28, 4 Apr 2014

Updated 17:56, 4 Apr 2014

ByFraser Glen-SCN

THIS week’s business round-up in Scotland is from Scott McCulloch, as Scottish businesses prepare to enter the new financial year.

Share

Get weekly news by email

Paul Chappells

First Minister Alex Salmon is currently in New York promoting jobs and investment for Scotland

IT has been another busy week in Scottish business as the financial year drew to a close, which saw a number of Scottish firms publicly dusting off their expansion plans as they enter the new financial year.

Peebles-based online tyre retailer Blackcircles, which counts former Tesco chief f Sir Terry Leahy as an investor, is reported to be considering a public listing to raise between £50 million and £100 million to fund the next phase of its expansion.

Sir Terry has also joined the board of Blackcircles as a non-executive director.

There was also good news on the jobs front this week with Australian engineering firm Clough announcing plans on Monday to create 110 new jobs in Bellshill.

A new specialist insurance broker was also launched in Scotland this week, promising to create around 140 new jobs in the next two years.

Brendan Devine, the former head of Kwik-Fit Financial Services, has launched Sure Thing Insurance Services Ltd - backed by a “multi-million pound” private sector investment – which will focus on the “higher than average premium market”.

US technology outsourcing giant Accenture also announced plans this week to create 2,000 new UK jobs this year, which will include new roles at its operations in Edinburgh and Aberdeen.

AAM has also agreed to pay a further £100 million to state-backed Lloyds – who are taking an 11 per cent stake in AAM as part deal financing arrangements – depending on the performance of assets AAM will now manage on behalf of Lloyds.

Edinburgh-based dating site operator Cupid published its annual results on Wednesday, reporting a £7.9 million overall loss for the 2013 year as annual revenues stalled at £26.6 million.

The company sold off its highly profitable casual dating businesses, including BeNaughty, Flirt, CheekyLovers, WildBuddies, Click&Flirt and QuickFlirt, to co-founder Maxym Polyakov's British-Virgin Islands-based Grendall Investments in July 2013 in a £45.1 million deal.

Cupid said it offloaded the sites believing them to be an “inappropriate direction” for a listed company.

Neil Hall/Reuters

Lloyds Banking Group

Royal Bank of Scotland was rarely out of the news this week, with Tuesday seeing an announcement from a group of RBS business customers planning to raise a multi-billion pound lawsuit against the bank's Global Reconstruction Group.

RBS has also confirmed this week plans to close a further 44 branches - many of which are classified as 'last branch in town' – as it looks to cut £5.3 billion of cost out of the business in the next three to four years.

And staying with RBS, a key advisors to the UK Treasury on the £66 billion recapitalisations of RBS and Lloyds Banking Group, has been appointed RBS Group finance director.

Credit Suisse banker Ewen Stevenson will join RBS in May, replacing Nathan Bostock, who announced last December he was leaving the Edinburgh headquartered bank to join Santander after just 10 weeks in the role.

Another key finance director role was announced this week, which will see Irn-Bru maker AG Barr's finance director, Alex Short, joining whisky giant Edrington Group.

Short will replace Richard Hunter, who is retiring from Edrington in June after 33-years – including 20 years as group finance director.

It was also a busy week in the renewable energy sector, with the Glasgow-based Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult agreeing to merge with the National Renewable Energy Centre based in Northumberland.

Scottish Enterprise also launched a new £6 million WATERS funding round to help the marine energy sector develop new wave and tidal power technologies, adding to the £14.8 million already delivered in two previous rounds.

Utility giant SSE this week pulled out of a planned tidal energy project in Orkney having transferred its lease of the Westray South area of seabed and a further three of its marine energy projects are currently under review.

There was some good news from the oil and gas industry this week with a new report from Bank of Scotland suggesting up to 39,000 new jobs could be created in the UK sector in the next two years, with the “largest share” of new jobs expected north of the border.

On Friday, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders reported March was a “record” month for new car sales in Scotland, up 14.7 per cent on last year to 43,724.

First Minister Alex Salmond, currently in New York promoting jobs and investment for Scotland, hailed Edinburgh beer brewer Innis & Gunn a “phenomenal” success story,having achieved sales growth on 9,000 per cent in the US in the past four years.